ClutchFans Game Thread: Bucks @ Rockets 10/18/2006 (PRESEASON)

At the game impressions:

1st quarter Yao taking most of the shots - they were obviously working him back into a groove and it worked! Seemed like one reason he started losing the ball - Bucks knew he was the intended target and they keyed on him. When Tmac is in and it is not every play and it gets faster then TOs should go down.

Rafer took a while to settle down - did some typical dumb Rafer stuff.

The team just moves the ball so much better than last year, it is so nice to watch the ball move around and then find Yao for a quick 2.

They all seem to be getting better on catch & shoot - but Snyder still has that little two shake deal he does which gives his defender time to move in and set up. But still the guy has game - glad to see him on the team.

Bill has such a pretty little lob pass into Yao - it is perfection. Much better than Alston's pass to Yao which appears flatter and easier to tip or steal.

The team has to learn to look for Bill's bounce passes. He appears to be calming down on the floor without losing his speed, moves or his timing - pop! He jumps out and steals the ball. Pretty to watch him twist someone out of their shoes. Lucas is calming down but not quite as quickly as Bill.

Bill and Lucas look better at defending than Rafer. You can see Rafer's frustration at not moving quick enough and then grabbing the opposing guard from behind or grabbing his jersy. Big diff watching Bill and Lucas stay in front of their guy and actually frustrate him, and then poor Rafer just appears flat footed and gets juked out of his shoes sometimes - just not fast enough reactions.

Novak has a pretty shot, played well. Padgett's hustle still seems to be working. Jacobsen seems tight - he knows he is on the bubble. Juwan seemed to work fairly well at C.

Overall we did not appear as strong at the 3-4-5 as the Bucks, when we had JHow, Novak Jacobsen and Padgett out there - we are not going to be intimidating and powerful - shoving people around.

These pre-season games have given me hope - a dedicated Van Gundy cynic - that perhaps Gundy can coach offense and design some plays for these guys that will include speed, crisp passing, and both on and off the ball movement. Maybe there just was not enough overall talent across the board the last few years for JVG to coach a top notch offense.

And I can't wait to see Bonzi! Woohoo!

BTW off the ball it seemed like the Bucks were throwing a lot of legs, hips and elbows on picks that the refs did not catch. We always seem to get called for those. Did anyone else notice this too?

 

Maricon? Joto?

 

wait.. is killbill REALLY vspan? like the player? on these forums?

 

Woot, can't wait for the real season to start.
BTW, I have been wondering this: Yao is so much taller than anyone. Why can't the guards lob high ball to Yao everytime? He just walk in and out of the paint near the basket and when there is a small opening, lob him the ball high. A small hop, and dunk. What do you guys think?

 

the conclusion: A GREAT GAME!!

 

The man gaurding Yao is usually much quicker with more hops and can snatch the lob before Yao gets it

 

Nice recap, richi.

I don't see you mention Luther Head, so I'll add my observation.

I admit I didn't pay much attention to Head's play in the early part of the game, mainly because my focus was on the Rockets' new additions like VSpan, Novak, and Snyder, besides Yao. By the time I took notice of Head, he had just made a boneheaded decision that resulted in almost an airball from him. JVG was in disgust/disbelief -- no surprise there. I also saw Head doing one of his old routines, that is, fake-fake-fake but not pass the ball to Yao. Head was fouled when he attempted a 3-pt shot, so he went to shoot 3 FTs. He made 1 out of 3 for chrisake, and his ugly shoot mechanics still made me cringe.

Now if we checked the boxscore, his stats for tonight seemed to be not bad. I am one of those guys who have reservations about Head. What do you think of him? Has he really made great progress?

 

I'm really eager to see how bonzi will gell with kill bill, yao, tracy and co.

 

boafs and bloafs i guess

 

We should call Spanoulis... Raging Bull

 

That would make clutchfans an even more elite forum. It would also be cool. Sadly, even if a player were to actually show up on this forum, it would probably be kept a secret (like the nickname wouldn't be "killbill"). It would be like finding out Tmac has been secretly posting messages or something.

Of course I could be wrong.

 

i say we keep haryasz instead of jacobsen... 5's are harder to find than 2's.. especially a 2 that does nothing special.. he can't even shoot that well.

 

lol they do look alike

 

I just got back from two weeks in Greece - everything was freakin tasty. I love Greek food....should have picked up a VSpan jersey while I was there.

 

Snyder and Novak playing consistently well.

V Span coming on. Padgett being typically solid.

Yao looking aggressive (21 shot attempts! nice!)

so far things are coming together as we all hoped, players are really pushing each other in competition for minutes in the real games.

haven't seen anything on McGrady ...hopefully its true where i've seen that he's simply being rested, and that he truly is the 100% he claims to be.

 

Unfortunately 8/21 is nothing to write home about. Yao clearly still needs to clear off the rust.

 

Don't you think that JVG should be planning to have VSpan as the backup Point Guard as if he continues to progress he might be ready by the start of the season? After all he is our only true playmaker Point Guard!

 

I see Yao got some new kicks? or the same with different color?

 

Post game quotes from Yao Ming. Seems like he already likes Bill as his team mate.

 

slow down there big guy. i know its preseason and all....